Are luxury tax issues an impediment to the Jazz and Clippers making a trade? If so it says something about the deal

Grantland's Zack Lowe, who does great work, has tweeted out that luxury tax issues are causing the Clippers and Jazz to have a tough time making a deal - likely the rumored deal with Millsap and Bledsoe.

The Clippers are only 440,000 below the tax and the Jazz are 3.5 million below the tax threshold.

However, if the deal were simply Millsap for Bledsoe and Butler or Bledsoe and Burks there would be no tax implications. Because the Jazz either 1.3 or 1.1 million more in either deal. Therefore, this would be a non issue.

However, if the Clippers are insisting that the Jazz include Alec Burks in the deal then the Clippers would be taking back 1 million more than the Jazz and would push the Clippers over the tax threshold.

If the Clippers add another player in the deal such as Ryan Hollins then the money gets straightened out but the Jazz would have to cut Raja Bell because it would put 16 players on the roster. Moreover, Ryan Hollins has been playing 15 minutes a night recently and the Clippers may not want to move him.

This leaves the possibility of the Jazz putting a 1st round pick into the deal instead of Burks and I need to investigate how that impact luxury tax

A deal like this is probably going down to the wire. Unless the story is that talks have broken off, assume there's still some posturing going on. It makes sense to look at all possibilities until the final couple of hours. Notice how no one else has completed any trades either.

I think the Jazz would include a pick BTW. They'd certainly do that before sending Burks now that it looks like Burks is a 1st-round pick that's panning out.

A deal like this is probably going down to the wire. Unless the story is that talks have broken off, assume there's still some posturing going on. It makes sense to look at all possibilities until the final couple of hours. Notice how no one else has completed any trades either.

I think the Jazz would include a pick BTW. They'd certainly do that before sending Burks now that it looks like Burks is a 1st-round pick that's panning out.

I can't believe Billy is down on Hayward. The guy has a lot of skills. The shot is getting deadly, he can create, he can pass, he can drive, and is good finishing on the break. The guy is amazing at video games. I'm sure he's even great in bed at this point. What's not to love?

I'm not down on Hayward. But my opinion is both Burks and Bledsoe will be better players than he is if they're not already. It's that simple.

Millsap is one of the best finishers in the league. He's really good at filling the lane. Him running out with Griffin has got to be tempting. Plus, Millsap's floor game is dramatically better than Lamar Odom's right now.